Patients waiting a year or more for hospital care almost double

The number of Scots waiting a year or more for planned hospital treatment has almost doubled in just three months as the second wave of Covid-19 hit - with the latest figures showing 28,203 patients having spent 52 weeks or more on an NHS list.

New waiting time figures showed "increasing" numbers experiencing longer waits for inpatient and day case treatment in NHS Scotland.

At the end of December 2020 there were 15,128 patients who had been waiting a year or more for such treatment.

But as the second wave of Covid-19 hit hospitals across Scotland, that total had increased to 28,203 by the end of March 2021 - a rise of 86.4 per cent

The Scottish Government's legally binding Treatment

Time Guarantee states that eligible patients should wait no longer than 12 weeks for their treatment.

But Public Health Scotland revealed that at the end of March this year 94,781 patients were waiting for either inpatient or day case treatment - with 61,901 having been on the list for 12 weeks or more.

That is an increase of 120 per cent from the total of 28,118 recorded as waiting 12 weeks or more at the end of March 2020 - although this went on to reach 70,396 at the end of June last year, as the pandemic forced hospitals to pause many routine treatments.

In the period January to March this year, 36,582 patients were admitted to hospital for planned treatment, either as an inpatient or on a day case basis.

That is a drop of 20.4 per cent from the number treated in the last three months of 2020, and 43.4 per cent lower the the first quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, when compared to the three months to the end of March 2019, the number being admitted for treatment is 50.2 per cent lower - with the report saying this "highlights the impact the pandemic has had on the number patients admitted".

The suspension of nonurgent care by some hospitals contributed to numbers waiting for either inpatient or day case treatment increasing.

The total of 94,781 recorded at the end of March 2021 is 10.5 per cent higher than it was as of December 31 2020, and was up by 19.6 per cent from the end of March last year. "The increase in the number waiting in the latest quarter is a consequence of less people being seen," the report noted.